Friday, 3 October 2008

An influential U.S. senator is investigating the drug company connections of two renowned psychiatrists linked to the University of Texas System. In a letter to the UT chancellor's office, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said the two researchers, both of whom have received federal grants, have failed to report tens of thousands of dollars in income they received from drug companies. The university is required to keep records of such income on file. Dr. Augustus John Rush, a former researcher at UT-Southwestern in Dallas, and Dr. Karen Wagner, who works at the University of Texas Medical Branch, are the latest doctors to fall under federal scrutiny in a brewing national debate over the influence big pharmaceutical companies can wield over medical research.Read article at dallasnews.com